The opportunity to lead the way. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Through
our subsidiary, WM Recycle America, we provide recycling programs
that are cost-effective and environmentally sound for cities, businesses
and households. Waste Management is the largest provider of recycling
services in North America, processing and brokering more than 8.4
million tons of residential, commercial, and industrial generated
recyclables in 2006.
As North America's largest recycler, we processed 5.5 million tons
of residential recyclables in our recycling facilities in 2006,
saving more than 41 million trees and enough energy to power about
848,000 households.
We continue our role as an industry leader, offering communities
and businesses more effective and affordable recycling options as
well as providing manufacturers and end users with the secure, consistent
stream of high-quality raw materials they need to maintain operational
efficiency. As the nation's largest collector of recyclables from
businesses and households, we are taking the reduce-reuse-recycle
concept into every venue. In residential areas, we are creating
sustainable recycling programs through working partnerships with
local communities and municipalities. As a leading marketer of post-consumer
and post-industrial commodities, we are providing fiber, non-fiber,
scrap metal, textiles, electronic scrap and plastics to end-users
of recycled materials worldwide.
It's one thing
to say we support recycling. It's quite another to step up to
the challenge of making it work. We're working to make it easier
for people to recycle. We're dedicated to making it more cost-efficient
for businesses and industries. And we're creating a sustainable
model for the future growth of recycling programs.
Glass. By recycling glass, million of pounds
of mining waste are kept from being generated.
Electronics
Waste Management manages and recovers electronic scrap materials.
As the nation's leading coast-to-coast provider of electronics recycling
services, we offer services ranging from end-of-life equipment recycling,
collection events, mail-back programs and drop-offs, to commodity
marketing and brokerage. In addition to a network of dedicated e-cycling
facilities, we work with service partners and local Waste Management
facilities to offer collection and processing operations in more
than 20 states. Our network of more than 80 drop-off locations is
the largest in the U.S. and Canada. We were the first U.S. electronics
recycler to achieve ISO 9001 and 14001 certification for our regional
processing centers, and the first to develop an Environmental Stewardship
Pledge, publicly defining our high standards for managing and marketing
electronic products and components.
Metal
WM Recycle America and Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., Waste Management's
waste-to-energy subsidiary, process nearly than 220,000 tons of
metals annually. This is the equivalent of taking approximately
227,000 cars off the road each year.
Plastics
WM Recycle America handles various grades of plastics from both
residential and the commercial/industrial sources. In 2006, we processed
more than 232,000 tons of residential plastics. This was enough
to save the energy equivalent of more than 166,000 homes for one
year.
Fiber
WM Recycle America handles more than 4.1 million tons of fiber annually,
including more than 50 grades of office paper, printer's waste,
cardboard, newspaper, de-inking high grade and pulp substitutes.
This was enough to save about 41 million trees.
